For the past several years, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
has used the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) software model
to estimate future investment requirements of the Nation's highway system
for the U.S. Congress. Now FHWA is launching a pilot program to determine
whether a modified version of the HERS software, tailored to State needs,
would be useful for State highway investment planning.

The State-version prototype software, known as HERS/ST, is based on the
national HERS model, but incorporates features from customized versions
of the HERS model developed by the private sector for Oregon and Indiana.
The software provides benchmark estimates of future highway system requirements,
given some user-defined criteria. For example, HERS/ST can answer the
following types of questions:

How will a reduction (or increase) of x percent in highway investment
levels affect the condition and performance of the State's highway system
over the next 20 years?

What level of future investment in the State's highway system is
required to ensure that user cost levels on the system are maintained?

What level of investment is required to make all economically beneficial
improvements to the system (e.g., those projects where benefits exceed
costs)?
Using data provided by States to FHWA for the Highway Performance Monitoring
database, the model conducts its analysis by:

Identifying a list of improvement options to correct these deficiencies;

Estimating the costs and benefits of implementing each improvement
option and calculating benefit/cost ratios for each; and

Ranking the project improvements by their benefit/cost ratios and
listing the most cost-beneficial options until criteria set by the user
have been met.

The first phase of the pilot program focuses on completing the development
of the prototype software. This phase is scheduled for completion by spring
2000.

In the next phase, FHWA will meet with States interested in experimenting
with the prototype software. Participating States will receive, at no
cost, the HERS/ST software, as well as training and technical support.
They will be asked to experiment with the software for 4 to 6 months.
At the end of that period, they will provide comments on the model's utility
for State-level applications, along with suggestions for the future.

Richard Arnold of the Oregon Department of Transportation (DOT), which
has been using their customized version of the software for almost 2 years,
says, "We're very satisfied with the results so far, and I expect
that it holds potential uses we haven't had time to tap yet, especially
on the performance side." Working from highway sections data, the
program not only analyzes deficiencies and simulates improvements, but
also estimates performance levels in order to evaluate the overall system,
a feature Arnold calls very important. "But the software's emphasis
on the economics is also very important, especially given constrained
funding resources. This helps us maximize the use of our system."

The FHWA Office of Asset Management is undertaking this effort in collaboration
with the FHWA Office of Legislation and Strategic Planning, which is responsible
for the national HERS model. Thomas Keane of the Office of Asset Management
says, "We're using the HERS/ST pilot as a first step toward achieving
the office's broader goals, one of which is to work with the States to
develop and promote the use of analytical tools for highway investment
planning. No mandate is involved, and the software is being produced at
no cost to the States. Even if this effort doesn't result in wider scale
use of HERS/ST, it helps us gain information about what tools the States
find useful and necessary in highway investment decisionmaking."

For more information on HERS/ST, contact Thomas Keane of FHWA at 202-366-9242
(fax: 202-366-9981; email: tom.keane@fhwa.dot.gov).